Have you started yet?

[andrewo]

Let's see if spring has arrived in your area yet. Are you planting out? Have you got your seeds underglass yet? Interested to see if those old spring maps are still right...

[Jaxom]

Buds are everywere and a lot of the spring flowers are in bloom.
Jax

[andrewo]

Just goes to show, a few buds have appeared here and dafs are starting to flower - how long have you had buds, Jax? (no rude pun intended).

[Jaxom]

About two weeks on some plants such as clematis. Shoots on the plants were about two to four inches so able to try taking cuttings. Gladioli are about four inches high in one or two places and seedlings are coming up all over the garden.
Jax

[sewer rat]

What's Spring - still have snow lying on the ground and bitterly cold west winds today. Some plants in the garden are braving it but not too many - only the foolhardy ones methinks !

[andrewo]

Just goes to show the difference between Cardiff, Saddleworth and Tain, clematis is just starting to shoot, daffs are up and three have flowered but only because they are sheltered. I was in Herts this week and it was colder there than in the valley here.

[nick the grief]

It'll soon be with you rat, I can hear the faint hum of midges already

[andrewo]

Bite, bite, bite....

[nick the grief]

may have been the snowplough I guess

[Emma]

Not a chance here and I thought the south was supposed to be the first. Although I did get some fruit bushes sent the other week from the lsle of wight and they had lovely green buds on them. Discounting the size you can tell a mile off which bushes are the new ones.

[sewer rat]

Don't mind the midges too much - except for the Isle of Skye variant - its the clegs that I hate - big black bast***s with the touch of a feather - they land on you and you know nothing about them til they take a chunk out of you. There is a croft we go to every summer to drain a bit more of the vertical bog he calls grazing, and the clegs are among the most numerous and vicious I've ever known - if anything would drive me back to fags they would - it would be just for the smoke to keep them at bay

[nick the grief]

Apparently on Skye one of the local punishments used to be tying folks naked to a tree & left to the mercy of the midge & clegs - What an evil punishmentI bet you'd think twice before you reoffend!!!

[sewer rat]

Good punishment that - not only do you have the mental torture of knowing the little buggers are about to have a free meal at your expense, then the visual torture of watching them alight and set about you but then not being able to scratch / itch/ rub the bites to provide temporary relief would be as bad if not worse.
Evil bast**** on the West Coast Islands !

[nick the grief]

I hate to think what they'd do to a sassenach

[Jaxom]

If I google the word cleg will I get something that I can show to my mum?
Jax